Pope Francis has held an in-person greeting with the faithful in St Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday in yet another positive public sign of his recovery from a life-threatening battle with double pneumonia.

On Sunday, the 88-year-old pontiff wished more than 20,000 people a “happy Palm Sunday, happy Holy Week” as he sat in a wheelchair without nasal tubes for supplemental oxygen.

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The Vatican said it was waiting to announce what role he may play in Holy Week events leading up to Easter on April 20 after doctors advised him to avoid crowds.

He did not heed their advice on Sunday as he thanked the faithful for their prayers. “At this time of physical weakness, they help me to feel God’s closeness, compassion and tenderness even more,” he said before urging them to carry the cross “of those who suffer around us” to mark the start of the solemn Holy Week.

Many in the crowd sought to touch Francis’s hand or garments as he was brought in a wheelchair to the main altar.

The pontiff also offered prayers for those suffering in the conflict in Sudan, which marks its second anniversary on Tuesday, as well as for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, South Sudan and for Lebanon, whose civil war began 50 years ago Sunday.

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The appearance was his second in St Peter’s Square before a crowd since leaving hospital on March 23. He made an unexpected appearance last Sunday, which was greeted with joy by the faithful. He also met privately with Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla this week and made an impromptu tour of St Peter’s Basilica.

Francis was discharged from Gemelli University Hospital in Rome after a five-week hospitalisation. Doctors said he would need two months of rest at the Vatican.